Thursday, May 27, 2010

Italy and Europe Begin

May 11-13, 2010 (Goppingen)

We decided to stay with my friend Katrin for a few days because Brent and I decide to take a trip to Madrid, Spain for the weekend. We did a little running, laundry, and just relaxed.

May 10, 2010 (Tubingen)

I rode with Julian Ade from Desenzano del Garda, Italy to Tubingen, Germany where I was stayed with my friend Jenny for the night. Tubingen is a small University town which is really cool because university town have lots to do. Tomorrow we will pick Brent up at 2pm and then go to dinner with Katrin and Jenny and go home to stay with Katrin for a few days before we move to Stuttgart to start training.

May 9, 2010 (2nd Day Multistars)

Woke up at 4:30am and couldn’t fall asleep until 7:00am which gave me 1 hour asleep before I had to be up for breakfast and to compete. Caffeine will be my friend today. I felt great warming up for hurdles and it should because I ran 14.22 only .1 off my Personal best but this was into a 1.5 headwind. I moved closer to first winning the event and then after a huge personal best in the discus 48.80 (over 5 feet better) I moved into first place. I then went on to win the pole vault at 5.15 and then threw 56.40 in the pouring rain and fouled a throw that was a personal best. I then ran a 4:36 to hold of the bronze medalist of the Olympics to win with a 8141 score my third best all time and only 10 points off a second day best score. With the bad winds and rain I am very happy with the score and know that I will be ready to score very high in Gotzis in 3 weeks. Off to Stuttgart, Germany for 2 weeks of training.

Afterwards is always a good time for all the athletes because we have a celebration dinner where we can all hang out and blow off some steam. We had some good Italian wine and danced the night away before we have to take off the next day. I have made lots of new friends and reconnected with others at this decathlon. I now have a travel and training partner, my buddy Brent Newdick of New Zealand will be going with me to train in Stuttgart Germany

May 8, 2010 (1st Day Multistars)

I woke up at 5am this morning for 2 hours before I could fall asleep again and slept for about another hour before I had to be up so I could get breakfast and make it to the track before we started at 11am. The rain has cleared for today and I hope it stays away for the weekend. I won my heat of the 100m with 11.25 but was not happy because it was a head wind and my legs from the jet lag did not have the strength to finish the race strong. Long Jump I ha to work hard to put up a 6.92 which is good for me. The winds are very bad for both events and then the rain came back as we were warming up for shot put. I had good warm-ups and it cleared as competition started and I threw 15.67m that was a half meter Personal best it was a huge throw that moved me closer to first place. High jump was below average and so was the 400m but I felt that I had empty legs from jet lag. I was fine though being in second at 4006 points sandwich between two of the worlds best from Cuba. Off to bed to put a great second day together.

May 7, 2010 (Italy)

I arrived in Desenzano Del Garda two days ago and have not done much but train and sleep. I have had a great season so far this year and training has been amazing. I feel great and so ready to take on the best in the world. Tomorrow I begin my decathlon in Desenzano and will be competing against the 2nd and 5th best guys in the World from Cuba. I have been constantly ranked lower then what I end up doing. I love being the underdog and working my ass off to prove I am better. Wish me luck on this decathlon.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Catching Up With ALL I Have Done

Catching Up With My Life ( Vancouver, 3peat USA Indoor Champ)

It been a while since I wrote on the blog and life has taken over and made me very busy these days. Fall training went really well. I spent the month of December at the Olympic Training center in Chula Vista, CA. I worked with Brad Walker, Tim Mack, and Ty. Their insight on javelin and pole vault were very helpful and after I went back to Tucson I continued to work on everything and saw a great improvement.

I had personal best in the pole vault going 5.35m (17’6 ½) and 60m hurdles indoor I ran 7.997 sec. I won USA Championships for the 3 times in a row. But what made it really special is I beat Tom Pappas for the first time in my career.

I was able to go with my friend, Aaron, to watch the Vancouver Olympics. I got to see Bodi Miller win the Gold Medal for the first time in the Super Combined Downhill. The atmosphere was amazing and it was like New Years Eve every day and night. We didn’t get tickets but were able to enjoy the USA win over Canada in Hockey while we were in Vancouver. It was an amazing and fun trip to the winter Olympics.

Outdoor has been really good so far in my first meet I threw javelin I threw 60.78m (199’ 4) only 2 feet off of my personal best. I did a decathlon at our home multi meet the Jim Click, I wasn’t suppose to do the whole thing but after just going through it as a practice I scored 7832. I had a very solid meet and was very excited of what I was able to do that early and excited to see what I can do when I really compete. I leave for Italy on the 4th of May and will compete there the 9th and 10th of May. I will be training in Stuttgart after that and then doing Gotzis Meet in Austria on May 29th and 30th which will be my biggest meet this year against the top guys in the world. Wish me luck and I will keep you updated on my European adventures.

2009 Season

What a season. Would say amazing and really didn’t feel great to me but looking at it on paper it was a really amazing season. I won USA Indoor for 2nd straight time, Won Italy meet, 10th at Gotzis against the best guys in world and scored 8069, 3rd at USA to make my second World Championship team, and got 24th a World Champs having a bad meet. You always wish and hope for more but looking back I had a really good year and learned so much. I can’t wait to start training next year and really start to kick ass and score big again. Thanks for all the support.

September 26 to October 2

What a trip. It was nice to enjoy Europe and not have to compete or train. I got to enjoy Oktoberfest, France, and Spain. What an amazing trip and now it back home and back to work.

September 25th

I went golfing with Tobias and Helen at very nice golf course. That night I went to Munich (Munchen) and meet Allison. I went out with Allison to Bar and then hip hop club. We are going to Oktoberfest on Sunday so Saturday we explored the city and saw all of the sites

September 24th

Went to Koln (colongne) because my friend had to work there and sounded like a fun adventure. I went and saw artwork and some amazing Gothic Cathlic Churches. I really cool city. We return to Goppengan to friends and had a movie night with everyone because after last nights party we were all tired.

September 23rd

Headed to Stuttgart to meet up with my good friends from Germany that I met in Italy last year. We went out in Stuttgart with a big group of people. Had a really fun night and meet a lot of really cool people. Going to Koln tomorrow.

September 22nd

So it my first time using a euro pass and made a mistake because in France you have to reserve a seat for which train you want. Well I didn’t and instead of waiting I jumped on train because I needed to get to Germany. It worked out because there were lots of open seats and they just charged me more for a ticket. I meet up with my friend in Mainz, Germany. Goal is to get to Munich and go to Oktoberfest.

September 21st

Well after long night got up at 5am to go on a boat with friend because one wave goes down this river each day and you can ride or surf it for up to 20mins. Well out of 40 times this guy has only tipped over twice and once was today. I lost my camera and got soaked but had an amazing time doing it. We then returned to the hotal and went to the beach where we got to surf. I then took a nap and was taking out to dinner by 3 girls who showed me the night life in Bordeaux. Tomorrow I leave to Germany.

September 20th (Day 2 Decathlon)

Well figured I would sleep nope 2:30am to 6am awake started at 10am almost slept through alarm. Can’t get my body to warm-up well the year has caught up to me. It is raining again but it light of all of this I will finish the meet and see what happens. I did finish and got 10th scoring just over 7500. Not good meet but I had fun and know no matter what I am not quitting unless my body really tells me it can’t. I gave away all my shoes to the young kids and they were all so excited.

September 19th (Day 1 Decathlon)

Ahhhh was awake from 2:30am to 5am. It pouring rain and is a little chilly. I feel awake but body is tired and during High Jump my calves got really tight. Body not doing well. Don’t know if it is sleep or long season but not out of it. I will finish the meet no matter what just don’t know what the outcome will be. Pretty average first day.

September 18th

I slept 12 and half hours last night I hope I can sleep tonight. We had dinner and ceremonies in Bordeaux to promote the meet for all the city. This met is very big in Bordeaux and people are very supportive. Start tomorrow

September 17th

Not feeling bad. Went to Bordeaux after morning training. Bordeaux is a great city with many restaurants and fun things to do. I plan on seeing more when I am done.

September 16th (Flight to Bordeaux France)

Long travel again to Europe and couldn’t sleep on the flight. Don’t like coming in this late to a meet but it should be fine. My body is tired from the season but looking forward to another adventure.

August 26th

Travel to and from Europe is so long. But I do love visiting Europe and competing over there.

August 25th

We made it to the train to Dresden today. Dresden is a city that was 95% destroyed and rebuilt to look like it used too. Dresden was interested to go to because we had to go through East Germany which is the Russian side of the Berlin wall. You can see the Communist look in everything because it all very plain and boring. The city of Dresden was very cool and very beautiful. After so many adventures and seeing so much History I do not want to leave Germany but tomorrow I have to leave bright and early.

August 24th

We were very slow this morning and missed the train to Dresden so we decided explored more of Berlin. I got to see Check Point Charlie, Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, parliament, and Holocaust Memorial. The Berlin wall was amazing with the artwork and all the history behind it. I have experienced so much history in the last few days.

August 23rd (Potsdamm)

We woke kinda early to see Tom off but then back to sleep because we were going to play tourist today. Today we woke up and had breakfast at the apartment and then headed out to check out Potsdamm. My mom, dad, Katryna, Chris and I arrived around noon to Potsdam and proceeded to figure out the best way to see all the sites. We decided to take the bus tour around so that we could see all the palaces and sites worth seeing. At first the tour was really bad but then we arrived at the palace, where the services quarters were bigger then most estates or palaces alone. We then jumped back on the bus that drove us around this enormous park that was all connected to this palace and others around it. It was huge and had really cool areas to see.

Chris left for the airport after our day of adventures and I headed to the track to watch Nick Symmonds run the 800 meters. He placed 6th. After I met up with Nick and went to dinner with him and his family, agents, coaches and friends. My parents and Katryna met up later in the night and we all went to a club til 4am in the morning. It was a long night.

August 22nd (Concentration Camp)

Today was a very emotional and crazy day for me. I visited a concentration camp, it was Sachsenhausen just outside the main Berlin area. My parents, Tom, Katryna, and myself made the trip to this historical place that cost so many their lives because of the Nazis. This concentration was an amazing way to see what happen in Germany at that time. We were at the concentration camp for a long time hearing about all the different things from how many people shared rooms to where they were executed. This experience will always be with me and I believe that everyone should see this once in their life to understand what those wars really were.

After the concentration we grabbed lunch at a Turkish restaurant. Well Turkish restaurant and stands are like Mexican food in the states. They are everywhere and they have good food too. We had Kebab. It a pita like bread that looks like a taco and inside is lettuce, tomato, herb sauce, and meat that sliced off a huge thing of meat that rotating on a spikit. After lunch we jumped back on the train where my mom, dad and katryna went to the Apartment and Tom and I went to meet Joseph at the Stadium so I could watch the men’s pole vault as well as other events. We meet up with Chris there and after we all returned to the apartment for beers and sleep. Tomorrow Tom leaves and we are going to look around Pottersdamm before Chris takes off to Poland.

August 21st (Rest day)

I was so exhausted and beat up from the two days of physical and mental work that I got sick from dehydration and exhaustion and was until about 3pm. The rest of the household including Tom, Katryna, my mom and dad all slept until 2pm because they were just as tired from the long days before. Chris Chappell showed up and we all had dinner and watched the track meet on TV. It was a low key day that everyone needed. After dinner we had some beers and Chris brought some champagne that he made a great toast to me and my family. After this Katryna, Tom, Chris, and myself went out to have beers and we stayed out til 5am just chatting and having a good time at a small bar.

August 20th (Decathlon Day 2)

AHHHH!!! Is all I have to say. Worst meet in three years but I finished and was 24th in the world.

August 19th ( Decathlon Day 1)

Well we started with 38 guys which is the biggest field at a major championship ever. This caused for a long day of competition. We started at 10am and didn’t finish until

August 18th (1 day left)

Today is a very low key day because I start tomorrow. I am feeling really good and ready to go. I am really excited to finally start it feels like I have been waiting forever to start this decathlon. The stadium is amazing best track stadium I have seen. Such an amazing site to see this facility in Berlin. Well off to bed have two long days ahead of me.